Splash and Burn
by The Crazy Beautiful
Summary: Collaboration between myself and KH Blaze. Johnny Storm story, for those of you who want to know. It's not a love story, but it COULD lead up to a new story that IS along the romance theme. Finally got another chapter up.
1. Chapter 1

"Get these people clear!"

"We need more oxygen tanks!"

"Another blanket over here!"

"Just keep breathing ma'am, keep breathing."

"They need to be treated for smoke inhalation!"

Flames flicked out most of the building's open windows like a snake's forked tongue would lick at the tastes in the air. Smoke plumed into the sky, visible for miles in any direction.

But the NYFD were on the scene, and they had Fantastic help!

With a violent crash, Thing's enormous fist appeared in the fifth floor office room's ceiling.

"Hey! Watch where you're clobbering!" Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch complained, shielding his face from raining splinters.

"Sorry, Kid." Came The Thing's gravely reply as he peeled back from the hole he'd improvised and made it bigger.

"Torch! Keep moving!" Bellowed Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic. "Make sure the other floors above us are clear."

Mr. Fantastic himself was stretched out from the street and poised as a living slide for the people escaping the burning building. And now that Ben Grimm aka The Thing had made another escape path, Mr. Fantastic reached out to the opening in the ceiling so more victims could use his arm as a zip line, before sliding the rest of the way out.

"That's good, Ben. Johnny can direct people to this location. Make your way downstairs and help the fire department rescue people from the lower floors."

"You got it, Doc."

Shortly after becoming the Fantastic Four, Reed developed a durable radio wave communicator in the form of an earpiece. It was also voice activated making it hands-free.

Reed used it now to check in with his fiancé, Sue Storm, aka The Invisible Woman.

"Sue, how are you doing?"

"Well, with the help of a lot of water we've managed to prevent an explosion, but nothing is safe until the fires are out, and…I'm getting tired."

"We're getting people out as fast as we can, in case you can't hold it back, but I think we're beating the fires. Hand in there, Sue."

"There's no one else up here!" Came Johnny's shout from the hole in the ceiling.

"The fire department is calling an "All Clear" for civilians down here." Came Ben's voice over the radio.

"Hold tight, Sue. We're coming to back you up."

The sleek black limousine pulled up in front of the building as Aydin stared out the tinted window at the now smouldering shell that had once been a pet project of hers. Her heart broke at the sight of it. She had spent months working on this building, making it liveable and safe again for the tenants and employees that resided in it.

When the car stopped and the driver came around to open her door, Aydin perched a pair of Gucci sunglasses on her nose, and slipped out of the cool, air-conditioned environment. She stood on the sidewalk with her hands on her slender hips, looking absurdly out of place in her black tailored suit, which she had cropped the jacket on to reveal a tiny line of her stomach, and then paired it with a hot pink camisole and large chunky belt of the same bright colour.

She spotted a group of police officers and firefighters and began to stride in their direction, her knee-high leather boots clicking on the pavement. As she drew closer to them, she saw four others, wearing what looked to be wetsuits. _Yikes, _she thought as her steps faltered slightly, staring at the massive, rock-like, well, _thing_ standing there. _How the heck did I miss **that**?_

Regaining her composure as quickly as she lost it, she arrived at the small gathering. "Excuse me, but I would like to know the extent of the damages, and how this fire started." she said confidently, and coolly, trying to keep her gaze from shifting towards the incredible creature, man, beast? standing with them.

A smooth, cocky voice piped up. "Oh, gee, Princess, and aren't you a little far from Macy's?"

Aydin's head snapped around in the direction the voice had come from, and she swept the glasses up onto her head as her cool blue eyes rested on the speaker's rather handsome face. "Just so you know, I own this building, and _you're_ a little far from the catwalk, maybe you should just sit back and let us people with intelligence speak about important things," she said icily.

Aydin watched as the cocky expression on his face dropped slightly and he was about to snap back at her, when a petite blonde drove her heel into the top of his foot. "Johnny," glaring at him slightly, the blonde said. When Aydin turned to acknowledge the speaker, Aydin momentarily realized that she recognized her. "She's Aydin Avallon, smart ass, as in the daughter of Arthur Avallon, CEO of Avallon Industries," the blonde continued. "You know, the leading competitor of Von Doom Industries."

Johnny's eyebrows rose slightly, then he said smoothly, "so, how about I pick you up Friday night at seven?"

Aydin face took on an expression of false sincerity as she said, "as tempting as that offer is, Mr. Strom, I'm afraid that you may be too busy having your body cavities searched to make the date, because if you keep it up, I'll have you slapped for sexual harassment."

Ben Grimm snickered softly at Aydin's biting remark, which caused Johnny to turn to him and say, "I'd like to see you do any better, you glorified garden gnome."

Aydin turned her head in Johnny's direction, and raised one perfectly arched eyebrow slightly. "Yes, well, his body may very well be stone, Mr. Storm, but at least the rocks aren't in his head." She then turned to Sue and said, "it's been nice seeing you again Susan, we should have lunch sometime." Turning to the rest of the group she continued, "you'll have to excuse me though, I need to speak with the fire chief about the extent of the damages, and then inform my father and deal with the headache of the insurance company."

With that, she quickly handed Sue a business card, turned on her heel, and walked back towards the limo.

As she walked away, Johnny's eyes slowly skimmed over the back of her figure and lingered briefly on her posterior, as he thought, _I've seen that ass walk away from me before._


	2. Chapter 2

With a knowing smile, Aydin strode into her fathers corporate office, pausing at the door, and taking in the rich deep hunter green wing chairs, the deep mahogany bookshelves and woodwork, and her father, Arthur Avallon, seated behind the heavy antique desk.

As promised by her father's secretary, he was engaged in a phone conversation, so she continued into the office, crossing over to the large bookshelves. Aydin scanned the volumes of leather-bound books, pulling a copy of the Canterbury Tales out, and traced her fingers lovingly over the cover, which was adorned with gold leaf.

Hugging the book to her chest, she crossed over to one of the wing chairs, and sat in it, tucking her feet gracefully beneath her. Opening the cover, she began to read the beautiful words, as she waited for her father's conversation to end.

After a few minutes, she heard her father's conversation drawing to its conclusion. Aydin closed the book and rose to her feet. After setting her book down, her eyes lifted to find her father watching her with a slight smile playing on his lips, and a proud gleam in his sky-blue eyes.

"Hi Daddy," she said.

"Hello Poppet," he said as he stepped out from behind the massive desk. His gilded silver hair shone in the light as it framed his strong face, which would have been striking, had it not been for his crooked nose, which had been broken numerous times in his delinquent youth.

When he reached her, he leaned down to kiss her forehead and she had to raise on her toes, and still was not tall enough, causing him to have to lean over farther. Arthur then hugged his daughter warmly and the top of Aydin's head tucked neatly below his chin as her dainty frame was enveloped by her father's much larger size. When they broke free from each other's embrace, Arthur met Aydin's gaze with an expression of concern. "I heard about the fire. Is everyone alright?"

Though Aydin's smile remained, it appeared to grow tired as she sighed heavily and replied, "No one was hurt. The fire caused a great deal of property damage, however."

Arthur waved off her concern. "Don't worry, I'll have that taken care of in no time."

A wave of love swept through her as she shook her head and said, "Daddy, no. Let me handle this. We agreed that when I started my own company, that you would be strictly an advisor. No financial assistance. Remember?"

"You can't blame an old man for wanting to take care of his little angel, can you?"

"I know Daddy, and I love you for it. But you have to let me be an adult."

Arthur sighed dramatically as he rolled his eyes. "If I must," he replied.

"Yes, you must," she admonished him.

They laughed together when child finished scolding parent. She was going to do it anyway, but just to amuse her father, she said, "If it will make you feel any better, I'll have Saline fax you the damage assessment so you may mull over which course of action would be best for me to take."

"It would please me to no end," he replied, knowingly.

Aydin rolled her eyes at him before she stands on her toes once more and kissed his cheek. "Bye Daddy. Be good." she told him as she turned and walked out of Arthur's office.

"Call your mother!" He called after her before returning to his desk.

"Yes Daddy!" She called back down the corridor as he returned to his business dealings.

* * *

Reed looked at his fiancé with mild disbelief. "You know Aydin Avallon?"

Sue looked and acted like it wasn't the big deal the others were making it. "You know how long I worked for Viktor. Is it really that hard to accept?"

Before Reed could ask her to elaborate, Ben interrupted. "As interesting as this is, can we just acknowledge the impressive performance Johnny put on? I believe that's a record for you, isn't it? Rejected faster than light speed!"

Everyone was silent for a fleeting instant, expecting the sharp comeback from Johnny…

But it never came.

Heads turned in his direction.

It appeared Johnny hadn't heard a word spoken, perhaps ever since they'd returned home. He was standing several feet away, unmoving, and staring at nothing.

"Johnny?" Sue ventured.

Still not getting a response, Sue went over to her brother and gently touched his arm.

"Johnny." She tried again.

Her younger brother was startled out of his daze. "Yeah? What? Are we going somewhere?"

"Johnny, are you okay?"

"Fine. Why?"

Sue exchanged looks with Reed. "You seem a little…distracted."

"I'm not. So, what do you know about Aydin?"

Sue's eyebrows creased into a frown. "What?"

"C'mon, you know you wanna tell me something!"

With an exasperated sigh, Sue turned on her heel and walked away. Johnny followed relentlessly.

"C'mon! Tell me! Tell me! Sue, come back here! Wait! Sue! Tell me something! You have to! Hey! C'mon! Sue!"

His sister went invisible just to get away from his verbal assault.

Johnny stopped in his tracks, a bemused look on his face. "What'd I say?"

He turned to Reed and Ben, looking for an explanation, but they both turned and walked away from him as well.

"What?" He found himself alone and talking to himself. "Anyway…if you guys don't need me, I think I'll take off."

Realizing he wasn't going to get any reply, he grabbed his leather bike jacket and headed for the elevator.


	3. Chapter 3

Aydin was seated comfortably in the pale ivory leather of her desk chair, reading over the financial reports of her publishing company's latest release, from a novice author. She had removed her boots when she had sat down, and they were now lying carelessly on the floor behind her desk, and she had one leg neatly crossed over the other. Pulling softly on her bottom lip, she rose from her seat and began to slowly pace the length of her office, a thoughtful expression on her face.

Like her father's office, Aydin's was richly furnished, however, where her father had used rich and bold colours, she had used light and airy ones. Her walls, were an opulent, lush blue. Her furniture, like her desk chair, was a creamy and luxurious ivory. Aydin continued across her office slowly, her eyes carefully reading the words and numbers on the page.

The information in the financial report wasn't bad, but nor was it good. As far as Aydin was concerned, it was exactly where she expected the author's book sales to be. There was just enough interest in the book to keep it from being a flop, and not enough to be a whirlwind phenomenon.

Pleased with the way things were going, she looked up from the page, and realized that for the first time, her feet had taken her to the massive aquarium that filled one of the smaller walls in her office. She watched the bright and colourful swirls of tropical fish, losing herself in them, and forgetting about everything else.

Just then there was a gentle knocking on one of the opened solid oak double doors. Aydin turned to see her assistant and confidant, Saline Leech, standing in the doorway.

Aydin waved Saline in, and continued to watch the numerous fish in the tank for a moment longer. "I've got the damage reports of the building like you asked for," Saline said as she strode across the office to sit in front of Aydin's desk. "It's all here, total damages, lost property of the individuals who worked at the editor's on the top floor, as well as those who lived on the lower levels. Also, I have a few rough estimates on the amount of work that will need to be done, and how much it will cost."

"Cost is not an issue in this Saline," Aydin said walking back to her desk. "The editors in that building belonged Glastonbury Tor Publishing, and therefore, to me. Also, the people living in that building are tenants of mine, and my responsibility. Could you please fax those sheets to my father?" she asked, sitting back at her desk, across from her assistant. "He's being, how should I put it . . . clingy, and refusing to let me handle things on my own. I did promise him that I would let him see the numbers and digits though."

"I'll see to it right away," Saline replied, already rising from her seat.

"There is one more thing," Aydin said, before Saline could do more than stand.

The assistant raised an eyebrow slightly, her quietly pretty face mildly interested. "Really, and what is that? I'll be sure to take care of it immediately."

"Well, no, it's not something that I need done, but I just think that, well, I have this funny feeling, about the fire, I mean. I think it may have been deliberate"

"Aydin, that's nonsense and you know it. If it were suspected to be anything other than an accident, then the arson investigators would have notified you by now. You know that."

Johnny Storm strode casually out of the elevator, with a playboy type smile on his face. He didn't really know the reason why he had shown up at Aydin's office building, but he wanted another chance to see if he could figure out why he thought he knew her from somewhere. Stopping briefly to inquire the location of Aydin's office, he continued on.

Just at the end of the hall, he could see a set of oak double doors, one of which was opened to reveal Aydin and another woman in quiet conversation. Continuing to strut down the hallway, planning to make a smooth-as-hell entrance, a young blonde secretary passing him caught his eye.

Johnny's feet kept walking forward, but his head rotated nearly one hundred and eighty degrees to watch the woman as she walked away. He was still watching her, when he missed the open door of Aydin's office, and collided smartly with the closed one, rattling it on its hinges.

At the sound of a body impacting her door, Aydin and Saline's conversation died off quickly and they both turned to see what had happened. Johnny shook off the run-in, and then casually walked _through_ the open door.

Sighing, Aydin flicked her eyes to her watch and then back to Saline, saying, "that's all I'll be needing for now, and I think for the rest of the day as well. Finish those few things for me, and whatever else you feel that you need to do today, and then go home. I'm sure I'll be able to handle things for myself tonight."

"Of course," Saline said, rising from her chair. "Thank you, and I'll see you tomorrow morning." Walking to the door, she paused and looked at Johnny, mild amusement on her face, then turned back to Aydin. "Would you like to me to close the door, or would you prefer it open?" she asked.

"Open is fine Saline," Aydin said. "Mr. Storm and I will only be having a brief meeting, and it's nothing I'm concerned about people hearing, but thank you for asking."

Nodding, Saline continued out the door. Aydin waited until she had gone before looking at Johnny. "Mr. Storm," she said blandly. "To what do I owe the honour of such a . . . graceful entrance?" she asked.

The Human Torch shrugged. "Nothing in particular, I was just wondering if you might know anything about that fire that happened in your building," he said, walking over to her wall of book shelves. Interestingly enough, he noticed that among her books, she mixed Dornford Yates, Jack London, and Edgar Allen Poe, along with current best selling thrillers, horrors, and fantasies.

"I know less than you do, Mr. Storm. However, if you would like to find out more about it, I suggest that you try the arson investigators. After all it _is_ their job to know particulars in circumstances such as this."

Johnny continued to wander around her office as she spoke, picking up a small statuary or paperweight, tossing it absently from one hand to the other, then putting it back down and continuing on.

The massive aquarium along the sidewall caught his eye, and he walked up to it, watching the tropical fish swim around. Suddenly his eyes got wide, and he exclaimed, "holy crap, look at that thing!"

Aydin frowned and walked over, wondering if something might be wrong with her fish. Gazing into the tank, she asked, "look at what thing?"

"That thing right there," he said, pointing. "The one with all the leafy things coming off it."

Aydin rolled her eyes. "It's called a sea dragon, and they're supposed to look like that. However, that one is a little larger than usual. I call him Excalibur."

Turning to look at her, the realization hit that while she was still attractive, she wasn't exactly beautiful like he had first thought. Her nose appeared to be slightly crooked and had a bump in it, and her mouth seemed to be too full.

Feeling his eyes on her, she frowned and looked up at him. "Is there something wrong Mr. Storm?" she asked, her voice cold and icy.

"Not really," he said. "You're just shorter than I remember you being."

"What, did I shrink a few inches since this morning?" she shot at him.

"No, from the other time we met, at the . . . thing. I just didn't remember before with everything else going on. Sorry about that," he said and flashed her a dashing smile, designed to make any female swoon.

"Mr. Storm, I can assure you that thankfully, we have never met before. You must have seen me in an interview, or read an article about me, or something. The fire this morning was the first time I have seen you, and you have seen me," she told him matter-of-factly.

Johnny shook his head. "No, that's not it, I _know_ it wasn't a newscast or anything like that, and I know I saw you before this morning."

Checking her annoyance to keep from verbally lashing out at him, she clenched her teeth shut and walked away, and out of her office. Johnny continued to go on about ways they might have met, when he noticed that she was barefooted. "Hey, did you know that you have no shoes on?" he asked her, with a cocky tone in his voice.

Turning on the Torch, she glared and snapped at him, "bloody hell! You're a genius you know that? Do you want a cookie or a small parade in celebration of your intelligence? I am aware of the fact I have nothing on my feet, because I removed my boots myself."

Johnny stopped dead in his tracks, and for a moment, he got an extremely thoughtful look on his face. "Hmmm. . ." he said slowly, as he narrowed his eyes, searching for the perfect way to goad her. "How about, giving me a cookie that's _on _parade?"

Rage blazed brightly in Aydin's eyes. Obviously Johnny had succeeded in taunting her, she opened her mouth to tear him a new one, but before any sound could escape her lips, the sprinkler above their heads erupted and frigid water began to shower down upon them.

For a brief moment, neither of them moved or spoke, and the rest of the sprinklers down the hall began to go off in succession. The surprised shouts of shock and outrage that rang out from the nearby associates jolted Aydin out of her bewilderment. "Thanks a lot Sparky. It obviously isn't enough that you have to come in here and harass me, but you have your mutation set off my sprinkler system, possibly destroying thousands of dollars worth of electronics."

For the first time in history, Johnny Storm was left speechless and unable to charm his way back into the good graces of a woman.

Glancing down at her watch, the cross expression on her face only intensified. "On top of everything, I'm now late for a date, and due to your lack of control over your . . . _alteration,_ I now have to change, which is going to make me even later for my rendezvous."

A look passed over Aydin's face, and Johnny felt that if looks could kill, he would have been dead ten minutes ago. The look alone made Johnny feel more guilt than he had ever experienced in his life. Aydin said in a dangerously quiet tone, "I think you had better leave."

With that, she shoved past him, and began to march back to her office. As she did, she snapped at Saline, "see that Mr. Storm is escorted out of my building." Aydin continued into her office, and the last thing Johnny saw of her, was the heavy oak door slamming loudly shut.

Saline picked up the receiver of the phone that sat on her desk, intending to call security, when Johnny raised his hand slightly. "You don't need to call Rent-A-Cop, I know the way out."

A few moments later, Johnny found himself standing on the sidewalk, looking up in the general direction of Aydin's office, with an utterly befuddled look on his face.

His head dropped with a heavy sigh as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He muttered to himself, "shot down," and began to make his way down the sidewalk.


	4. Chapter 4

At the posh establishment known as Capsouto Frères, Aydin sat at the table across from Clay Manning, her escort for the evening. She picked at her appetizer of stuffed zucchini blossoms and fresh chevre. She faked interest in whatever it was Clay was talking about, how he just bought some antique that was supposed to have once belonged to Louis XIV, or something equally boring. She lifted her glass and sipped at her Pouilly-Fume wine, as her eyes roamed the elegant dining room.

As a server came and discreetly removed the appetizer plates, Aydin spoke up. "Clay, did you ever get the chance to go diving on the Great Barrier Reef while you were visiting Australia?" she inquired.

Clay scoffed slightly, and lightly patted her hand that rested on the ivory tablecloth as if she were a small child. "Aydin, I was much too busy while I was there to do anything of the sort." He sampled his own wine, of the same vintage as hers, and made a sour face. "Horrible!" He exclaimed. "This wine has way too many tannins, and it should have been decanted first. I want it sent back, and a new bottle brought. Aydin, don't drink yours until we get this replaced."

She smiled sweetly at him and picked up her glass, sipping the pale gold liquid again. "Actually darling, Pouilly-Fume is supposed to taste that way, like fresh cut grass, and summer melons." She then leaned slightly forward and lowered her voice before continuing. "And um, white wine doesn't have any tannins, which makes it rather pointless to decant." She straightened in her chair, nodding her head slightly, then winking at him. "Just for future reference."

Clay turned a slightly embarrassed red color. "Oh, yes of course, my mistake. Did your family ever acquire that Ming vase that was at Sotheby's last month?" he asked, purposefully keeping the conversation away from anything that Aydin might know more about than he.

"Actually, no," she replied. "Instead Daddy purchased a beautiful vintage car, everything is actually original on it," she continued with gentle excitement.

"A car?" Clay asked, as a slight frown crossed over his face. "Honestly Aydin, what is so interesting about a car? Especially an old one?"

A blank look of disbelief crossed her face and she just stared at him for a moment. "Clay, it's, it's not just an _old car,_" she stammered. "It's a 1970 Chevelle 454 Super Sport LS-6. At the time it was one of the fastest cars in America. It's a legend, just like a '69 Charger, a '64 Corvette, a '71 El Camino, or a '66 Malibu. None of these are _just _cars."

"Aydin, let's not get temperamental about some old scrap metal," Clay said, shrugging off her reply. "What would you think about accompanying me to my home in the Hamptons next week?"

Somewhere in their discussion about artifacts and cars, their server had come by and quietly slipped their entrees in front of them, removed their glasses of white wine, and replaced them with glasses of dark cabernet sauvignon. Aydin looked down at her meal. The invitation caused her stomach to turn. Even though she enjoyed Clay's company on occasion, she had no desire to spend a week with him at one of his homes. The man was so stuffy and boring.

She picked lightly at her filet mignon, avoiding the question. Just when Clay looked as if he was going to attempt to pry a response out of her, a strange look passed over her unique features. "Clay, I'm terribly sorry to do this, but I'm afraid I'm not feeling very well. Could we maybe schedule dinner for another time?"

"Of course," he replied, "you must be exhausted after all that happened today, with the fire, and that insulting visit from, what was his name?"

"Johnny Storm," she reminded him.

"Yes, him. I should have called you before to set this up for another time. You should be at home and in bed. I'll take you there myself," he said, signaling the maitre 'd for the bill.

"No," she said quickly. "I mean, I wouldn't want you to cut your evening short because of me. Sit and finish your meal. I'm sure I can make it home on my own, and if I need anything, you will be the first person I call."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am." Aydin winked at him. "I'm a big, tough girl."

With a tiny smile, Clay relented. "Alright then. But if you need anything at all, be sure to call me."

"I promise I will," she assured him, then rose slightly on her toes to kiss him gently on the cheek. "I'll call you," she told him, then without waiting for his response, she turned and left, making her way to the lobby of the restaurant to retrieve her jacket and have the valet bring her car.

Seated in the cool interior of the Porsche, she picked up her cell phone as she wove in and out of New York traffic. She dialed the number, and waited for the line to be picked up. When a man answered, she said, "hey Chris, it's Aydin. Do me a favor will you? Get the truck and the gear ready. I'm in a mood and need to work it off. Okay, see you then. Bye." Hanging up the phone, she turned a corner and went in the opposite direction of her penthouse apartment.

In the Baxter Building, Johnny Storm sat on the couch, watching drag racing and racking his brain, knowing he had seen Aydin somewhere before. "Hey kid," Ben Grimm said as he lumbered through the room. "Somethin' up? Looks like you're thinkin' a lot harder than usual. Don't wanna hurt yourself," he continued, and laughed to himself.

"Uh-huh, yeah, sure," Johnny mumbled back. "Don't worry, safety first."

Shaking his head, Ben left the room, as Johnny got up and started to pace. He'd heard that the great minds of history paced, and Reed paced, so he figured that it seriously helped the thought process. However, in Johnny's case, pacing wasn't working.

Frustrated with himself, he made an irritated noise, grabbed his jacket, and took off to find the nearest race of some kind that he could enter.

In the large, state of the art garage, a gigantic covered trailer was being loaded with four dirt bikes. There was also gear being loaded up when Aydin hit the switch on the panel and had one of the bay doors opening to admit her.

Parking and quickly killing off the engine in her car, she slipped out of it and walked over to a guy who was covered in tattoos and facial piercings, and who also had blue hair. "Chris!" she exclaimed as he caught her up in a hug. "We almost ready to go?"

"'Course we are Duchess, but if I was you, I'd probably go and change into something other than that fancy dress of yours. Though I must say, it would be a sight to see, if you were to go off a jump in that skirt," he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her, which caused Aydin to burst into laughter.

"Not going to happen Chris," she said, walking over to where a large canvas duffle bag sat on the cement floor. Picking it up, she told him, "give me about ten minutes and I'll be ready to go."

"Cool, we should be done by then anyway. You wanna ride in the truck, or the room in the trailer?"

"I think I'll ride in the trailer," she said, carrying the large bag with her to the washroom. "That way I don't have to ride there with my helmet and goggles on."

"Sounds good to me, hurry up and change Duchess. You got eight minutes left."

At the racetrack, Johnny was in his element. Noise, speed, and women with small tops and tight jeans surrounded him. As far as he was concerned, things couldn't really get much better, _unless you could figure out where you know her from,_ a nagging little voice in the back of him mind told him.

He strutted around the pit area in his riding pants and boots, and for the benefit of the women, no shirt. So he might have to start a new little black book after, not like that would be a bad thing. And then he saw the Avallon Racing truck, with four riders, and a full pit crew milling around it. One of the riders was on the small side though, and has their helmet on, which was strange, since he figured they were riding in the intermediate class. And that didn't start for another two hours.

Aydin swung her leg over the seat of her bike, and hit the kick-start, allowing it to idle for a moment, and then revving the engine, while her mechanic tweaked things here and there. The chest protector she wore beneath her jersey hid her curvy figure, and her hair was tucked up securely beneath her helmet.

Seeing the name on the back of her jersey, Johnny raised his eyebrows. The name on the back said _Gawain, _which would mean Lance Gawain. Johnny couldn't remember him being quite that short, but shrugged it off. They had raced against each other a few times, and Johnny knew his riding style to be hard and fast.

As Aydin cut the engine and swung off the bike, then walked back towards the truck, Johnny nearly swallowed his own tongue. There was that ass again, the ass he knew so well, and admired greatly on one stuck up female! It was impossible, and it was wrong. There was no possible way that Johnny Storm should be looking at another guy's ass.


End file.
